


The Paths Untraveled

by TeamTired



Series: The 120 Pairing Challenge [16]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamTired/pseuds/TeamTired
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aradia gets sick of cleaning up Eridan's messes in the various alternate timelines and finally decides to give him a piece of her mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Paths Untraveled

As another bolt of pure energy erupted from Eridan’s gun, he couldn’t help but let out a small sigh. His loneliness on Alternia had only been transferred to this awful world that he found himself trapped in now. While his “friends” regaled him with stories of fantastic vistas and helpful companions, he found only empty cathedrals and the occasional terrifying angel, which he quickly dispatched. 

But perhaps, he thought to himself, things don’t have to be this way! After all, he had learned from the whispers of the angels as they attacked him that he was no mere troll, he was royalty! They had called him the Prince of Hope, which Eridan thought suited him. Though he was never quite royalty on Alternia, he had always thought himself deserving of the privilege. His blood was pure and elegant, and his temperament refined and suited for the instruction of others. 

Yes, Eridan was a Prince, there was no doubt there. 

And as his princeliness grew tired of the monotony of managing his unruly subjects, the angels, he figured perhaps his leadership skills could be used elsewhere. Naturally, the other trolls had progressed in the game with no problem, but surely there was some way that Eridan could speed up the process? He had read in Karkat’s numerous memos that the worlds were linked by a series of gates, a few of which Eridan had explored while taking survey of his kingdom. If he understood what Nepeta had said correctly, the gates above his house would take him deeper into his own despicable kingdom, while the other gates scattered around would either take him home or to other worlds. He had already taken a short trip to LOBAF, which had been incredibly unpleasant to say the least, but at least he got to see Feferi, even if it was in the arms of that filthy lowblood. As Eridan sent another spike of pure energy through the torso of a nearby angel, he smiled at the thought of visiting Feferi. 

Her consorting with Sollux was not something he could forget or forgive easily, but perhaps she would change her mind when she found out he was a Prince, and of the mighty aspect of Hope no less! And as sovereign over Hope, Eridan felt that he was right to hope that he still had a sliver of a chance with Feferi. 

After consulting the various memos and maps his teammates had composed, Eridan figured a path through his land that would drop him off in Feferi’s land, just as she would be there alone, preparing to defeat her Denizen. He felt quite pleased with himself. Not only would he get a chance to speak to Feferi alone, but it would be in a world with water! It had been ages since Eridan had managed to soak himself in a good brine bath, and visiting a bowl of glorious water would be another excellent perk to seeing Feferi. 

And so Eridan set off towards the far edge of his land, which held one of the few portals linking his world to Feferi’s. As he walked, he was so consumed by the thought of finally winning Feferi back (perhaps even in a more flushed quadrant!), that he barely paid attention to the fact that his consorts, the angels, had begun to avoid him even more than usual. It was only when he was standing before the gate itself that he finally noticed the odd ringing noise. 

It was like the ticking of a clock, combined with the ringing of a bell and the ping of pure crystal, all mixed together, and it was growing louder and louder, resonating and echoing through Eridan’s entire land, creating a cacophony that never seemed to reach its climax. And then, as quickly as it started, the noise immediately stopped with a pop, and when Eridan looked back towards his gate, he saw Aradia floating in front of him. 

He was obviously confused, but when he opened his mouth to speak, she immediately interrupted him. 

“shut up shut up shut up d0nt say a w0rd

i am s0 sick 0f dealing with y0ur h00fbeast shit y0u d0nt even kn0w

s0 at this p0int i d0nt even care if killing y0u d00ms the alpha timeline

i w0uld much rather d0 that than put up with y0ur ann0ying accent for 0ne m0re sec0nd

if y0u understand n0d y0ur head 

Erdian nodded emphatically, too stunned to do anything else. 

“g00d n0w take my hand”

He put his slimy seadweller hand into her metallic robot hand, and in an instant, accompanied by the same relentless noise that had deposited Aradia into Eridan’s world, the two were sucked out of the timestream. 

Eridan had squeezed his eyes closed to protect them from the burst of light that had accompanied the transition out of the time stream, but when he opened them, he was in a completely alien place, around him floated bubbles of energy and thought, and before him was what looked like a grand tree, composed entirely of some sort of glass. 

Aradia nudged him with her cool metal shoulder. 

“what d0 y0u see eridan

feel free t0 speak up n0w”  
As Eridan concentrated, he saw a network of possibility and causality, with each piece of bark and every errant branch of the tree an individual event, all of them linked in one giant mesh that constituted the central timeline. 

“i think i see us

like i mean thats our session right

and all those branches and links those are like other timelines

so i guess im from the middle one right

the biggest one in the center”

Aradia nodded her head, as if to confirm his suspicions. As Eridan concentrated harder, he could see small figures moving between the various branches, like insects or carpenter drones preparing a hive. As he focused on one in particular, he was stunned with the realization that each of those specs was Aradia, bustling carefully to manage the many timelines and possibilities of the troll’s session. 

“so are all those aradias dowwn there

are they all you”

Aradia thought for a minute, the processors in her mind quickly whirring to dechipher the question. 

“yes and n0

n0ne 0f them are me right n0w

because 0nly i am me right n0w

but many 0f them were me

and many m0re may bec0me me 

whereas 0thers are an 0ffsh00t 0f their 0wn failed sessi0n

and thus will never actually be me ”

Eridan puzzled over that response for a minute, and then after failing to fully comprehend it, decided that it would just be better to pretend that he understood. 

“right n0w y0ure pretending that y0uve underst00d that

d0nt b0ther 

time is my aspect n0t y0urs”

Eridan thought about becoming indigennt for a moment, but dropped it. It was obvious that at this point in time (space?), Aradia was in charge, as distasteful as that was to him, and as a result, he stayed quiet. 

“naturally y0ure w0ndering why i w0uld take y0u here

the answer my dear eridan is that y0u are 0ne hundred percent verifiably awful

n0w bef0re y0u dispute that take an0ther l00k at the timeline”

As Eridan gazed at the timeline, he saw three particularly large clusters of branches which together had more Aradia’s attached to it than all the rest of the timeline put together. He was overcome with the sinking sensation that the largest of the clusters belonged to him.

“this is the part where y0u figure it 0ut generally speaking 

s0 i supp0se ill g0 ahead and p0int 0ut the places 0f interest”

She gestured to a clump of Aradia’s that had gathered around the one of the larger clusters of branches. 

“that cluster there is dev0ted entirely to preventing y0u from killing y0urself and gathering data t0 prevent y0ur suicides”

For a moment, Eridan’s heart soared. Here he thought nobody cared about him, but nothing could be further from the truth! Instead, everyone was working to constantly keep him alive! Before he could get ahead of himself, Aradia spoke up again. 

“but that is by n0 means the biggest s0urce 0f c0nsernati0n f0r me

n0 that w0uld be that cluster 0ver there”

She pointed to what was easily the largest of the clusters, so large that it was almost as big as the tree of timelines itself. 

“despite the best eff0rts 0f b0th terezi and myself

a huge am0unt 0f my time is spent dealing with the fall0ut 0f y0u killing 0ne 0r m0re 0f us bef0re the c0mpleti0n 0f the game 

and since i am n0t pr0grammed t0 lie

y0u will kn0w with abs0lute certainty that what i am saying is the truth culled from an alm0st infinite number 0f timelines

y0u are the m0st reprehensive piece 0f garbage i have ever dealt with

the 0nly tr0ll that beats y0u 0n b0dyc0unt is gamzee and even he cant keep up with y0ur number of incidents 

hes just much m0re efficient when it c0mes to racking up kills 0nce he snaps”

Hearing this come from Aradia’s monotone robot voice was too much for Eridan to take. How dare she speak to him like that! Did she not know that he was a Prince? He could feel the blood in his collapsing and expanding bladder based aquatic vascular system begin to boil. In another instant, he knew that the wrath that belonged to his royal side would be displayed, just in time to show this commoner his place. 

Aradia’s robot eyes focused on him intently, and just as his hand went for his weapon, she slapped him, her hard metal robot hand bruising Eridan’s face and leaving a painful stinging. 

“n0

see this is exactly the pr0blem with y0u

y0u d0nt think pr0perly

n0w c0me with me i have s0mething else t0 pr0ve”

He floated with her to a smaller group of branches that were linked to the central Eridan branch. 

“as a c0unterp0int t0 my previ0us statement 

these branches represent realities where y0u were t00 her0ic 0r y0ur sacrifice t0 save an0ther had t0 be prevented 

in s0me 0f these the branching p0int was n0t even y0ur fault but y0u ended up behaving her0ically anyway

ive c0llected these branches t0 teach y0u a less0n eridan 

st0p being s0 damn self centered and impulsive 

its a fine line with y0u eridan 

t00 far 0n 0ne edge and y0u bec0me a killing machine 

but t00 far 0n the 0ther and y0u screw up so bad 0r sacrifice y0urself in such a way that y0u might as well have killed a teammate 

d0 y0u understand”

Eridan was totally speechless. He nodded again to indicate that at some level, he understood what she was saying. He was a piece on a playing board, just like any other of his companions, but he was a particularly hard piece to place, that he could comprehend. 

“g00d”

Aradia allowed herself a microsecond to be distracted, which she spent staring off into the complex structure that was the timeline.

“if i was n0t an em0ti0nless r0b0t

i might have bec0me fascinated with y0u mr ampora

y0u are quite the puzzle as far as a temp0ral entity 

i must admit that the lifetimes 0f experience myself and my d0ubles have with y0u has s0ftened my initially harsh 0pini0n 0f y0u quite a bit

but that is neither here n0r there”

Eridan had spaced out during her speech, but at some point he was fairly sure she hit on him. Before he had a moment to think about it, Aradia had already started again, instructing him to take her hand. When he grabbed her hand, he felt the same wrenching sensation he had felt before, accompanied with the incomprehensible noise that come with Aradia’s time traveling. When he looked down at his hand in hers, he felt her squeeze it ever so slightly. Was that a squeeze of affection, or just an errant servo? 

When the two arrived back in Eridan’s land, Aradia addressed him one final time.

“i h0pe that y0u learned s0mething eridan 

d0nt g0 after feferi and d0nt 0ff y0urself”

Eridan thought he detected a smile on her painted-on face during the next part.

“y0u are special in y0ur 0wn way eridan

valuable even

but that d0es n0t excuse y0ur self centeredness 0r y0ur 0ccasi0nal lack 0f f0resight 

l00k bef0re y0u leap eridan

please f0r all 0ur sakes”

He still had a thousand questions, about her and the time stream and the future, but she didn’t given him the opportunity to ask them. Instead, she was gone in the blink of an eye, accompanied a final time by the resonating and echoing chaos of her music boxes. Eridan shrugged, but somewhere deep inside his spirit he was changed. Perhaps that change would be a positive one, one that would somehow cause him to defy his otherwise treacherous nature. Or perhaps it would only be solid enough to keep him stable for the rest of the game. 

Either way, his reflection was cut short by a darting figure in the distance that he immediately recognized as another angel.

“wwell wwhatevver

enough distractions 

time to attend to the princes kingdom”


End file.
